How Businesses In Russia Accept Bitcoin and Pay Taxes

The government of Russia is still discussing the possibility of official acceptance of cryptocurrencies. However, several businesses are already accepting Bitcoin payments and claim that they do it absolutely legally. But how?

Businesses in Russia show growing interest in accepting cryptocurrencies for their goods and services. Several retailers and restaurants have announced that they are already accepting Bitcoin payments, while some others plan to do so. 

Farmers accepting Bitcoin in Moscow 

This week, the Russian farm cooperative Lavkalavka began accepting Bitcoin as payment for farm products in its stores, cafes and in the market in the Moscow region of Khimki as well as at their online store lavkalavka.com. 

The LavkaLavka farm cooperative already has 5 farm stores in Moscow, 2 farm cafes, 2 farmer's restaurants, and more than 200 small family farms members. LavkaLavka states that it is not just a business, but also a movement of ideological people who are interested in sustainable development, responsible consumption and support of organic agriculture. 

On July 17, Lavkalavka announced that it is now offering an opportunity to pay for purchases via bitcoin. Moreover, on the day of the bitcoin payment acceptance, three customers paid using cryptocurrency. Coinidol.com contacted the founder of LavkaLavka’s farm, Boris Akimov, and asked how they manage to make Bitcoin transactions legally in Russian jurisdiction? 

How are purchases with bitcoin realized? 

The seller prints out a regular payment check with local official currency - rubles - so the tax service can see the purchase and the amount of tax paid from this sale. Everything is legal. However, payment is not made in cash or using a bank card. LavkaLavka stores use the Cryptotice payment app. 

The seller scans the barcode of the item using the barcode scanner that sends the data of the item to the cash register, the electronic device for registering and calculating transactions at a point of sale. The cash register shows the price of the item with the tax applied to it and sends this information to the accounting system and the tax service. 

In LavkaLavka stores, this register runs on an Android system and has a  Bitcoin Wallet app installed on it that allows working with cryptocurrency as well. This app generates the QR code that the customer scans with his smartphone and accepts a payment invoice from Cryptotice. At the moment of payment, LavkaLavka redeems rubles for bitcoins on the exchange, and the received rubles are transferred to their account. 

This app also allows them to accept Bitcoin fast – the information from the network about the transaction received in the merchant app is enough and there is no need to wait for confirmation of the transaction which usually it takes 20-30 minutes. The goods are delivered to the buyer immediately.